The 39 remaining residents and about 85 staff members at the United Methodist Home, 1135 S.W. College, are moving a few at a time during the next several weeks as UMH prepares to close its doors April 30. The neighboring Topeka Bible Church, 1101 S.W. Mulvane, is buying the building and will renovate it for church offices and religious education classes.

Residents and staff, dressed in colorful straw cowboy hats and bright bandannas, gathered in the dining room Thursday for an official send-off in keeping with the project's "Westward Ho!" theme.

"This group is a big family," said Beth Stuart, chief executive officer of United Methodist Homes Inc., the parent company for UMH and Aldersgate Village. "The question I have had most often is, 'Will we stay together?'

"We've told them, moving out to Aldersgate Village, they'll just be part of a bigger family."

She estimated as many as 5,000 people have lived in the United Methodist Home since the first resident moved into a parsonage on the site in 1909. The current retirement home began with the south wing, constructed in 1914, and there were several additions to the four-story, red brick building through 1954.

During more than a decade of planning, the United Methodist Homes Inc. board of trustees decided to close UMH and consolidate with Aldersgate Village, 7220 S.W. Asbury Drive, because of costs to upgrade the 89-year-old building in keeping with fire and health codes, Stuart said.

In the past year, Aldersgate Village has built two, 28-bed medical care wings and a 24-bed special care wing as it increases capacity to house UMH residents. Stuart said the first wing, named Elmhurst after the neighborhood in which UMH has its roots, is almost ready to open, with the second to follow in two weeks and the third by May 1.

The move will reunite sisters Katherine Walters, 91, and Anita Towslee, 88. Walters has lived at Aldersgate Village for the past two years after 10 months at UMH, where Towslee has lived for the past six years.

"I feel like I own the place," said Towslee, predicting she would be one of the last out the door.

"The person that has the key to the place, when they lock it, I'll be right in front of them," she said.

Doug Will, pastor of administration for Topeka Bible Church, was presented with a large wooden key to the building Thursday. He said the church is taking bids on renovation work and hopes to move in by fall. The four-story building, which Will estimated at 125,000 square feet, will put the church's offices and religious education under one roof.

Will said the church had been renting space on Sundays from Lowman Hill Elementary School and three years ago added a modular building in its parking lot.

United Methodist Home

 Address: 1135 S.W. College Ave.

 Chartered: 1904

 First resident: 1909, in a parsonage on the site

 First wing: 1914

 Final wing: 1954

 Current residents: 39

 Highest number of residents: 300 in 1958

 Closing: April 30

 Future use: Offices and classrooms for Topeka Bible Church

"We have a lot of room to expand and grow ministries, which we're excited about," Will said. "We were bursting at the seams."